Latest from around the region

Save the date! We`re out and about putting up posters for our upcoming Poetry Performance: `Time of Fire` by Southern Highlands poet Harry Laing on Thursday 11 April.

The event is free but please register (link in profile) It looks set to be a fabulous evening: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/time-of-fire-performance-by-harry-laing-tickets-868048766227
#harrylaing #poetry #timeoffire #bushfire #bushfirerecovery #community #allinthistogether #planetaryhealth
...

Do you know someone who is influencing others to avoid, reuse and recycle? Help us celebrate and share what they`re doing by nominating them for a Binfluencer Award! Prizes include bookstore and specialty food gift vouchers and an Apple iPad. Nominations close on Sunday 28 April. For more info and to enter, visit https://bit.ly/48f32GS (link in profile) @bluemountainscitycouncil @waronwasteau @war_on_waste_ #zerowaste #waronwasteaustralia #togetherwecanmakeadifference #solutions #planetaryhealth @michaelmobbs #reducefoodwaste #reducefoodwasteathome #composting #saynotoplastic @saynotoplastic ...

The Forged by Fire Festival was not the ‘usual’ Bushfire recovery or resilience event. Instead of focusing on consequences of fire, the Lithgow City Council event focused on human relationships with fire. Tracie McMahon ran a storytelling booth at the event, asking what does ‘Forged by Fire’ mean to you? Read more in Lithgow Area Local News (link in profile). On Thursday 11 April, Southern Highlands poet Harry Laing will also be giving a Performance of his poetry ‘In Time of Fire’ at the Planetary Health Precinct, followed by an opportunity to discuss our experiences of fire across the country. The event is free but bookings are essential here (link in profile): https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/time-of-fire-performance-by-harry-laing-tickets-868048766227

#bushfire #resilience #recovery #disasterriskreduction #forgedbyfire #intimeoffire #poetryperformance #performancepoetry #planetaryhealth #allinthistogether
...

Take a tour of the community gardens and farms in Blackheath and you`ll find alpacas, companion flowers, compost to die for, hundred-year-old ‘Shipley’ apple trees, native bees, friendly faces, wonky tomatoes, life philosophies and much, much more. Read more in Blackheath Area Local News (link in profile)
https://blackheathnews.com/incredible-edible-blackheath/ @cliff_view_community_farm @costasworld
#communityfarming #communitygardens #communitygardensbuildcommunity #communityfarms #blackheathnsw #bluemountains #planetaryhealth #togetherwecan #collaboration #growyourown
...

As our climate changes, bringing unseasonable weather events, we`re more likely to find wildlife, like snakes, in unlikely places, including our homes. Many greet snakes with fear, repulsion and sometimes violence. Local professional snake removalist Troy Hovenden wants to change the way we view these magnificent creatures, to help protect both human and snake residents of the Blue Mountains. Read more in Springwood Area Local News (link in profile):
https://springwoodlocalnews.com/troy-the-reptile-bloke/

@thereptilebloke #reptiles #snakes #bluemountains #snakeremoval #biodiversitymatters #snakeprotection #wildlife #planetaryhealth #springwood
...

It`s cold wet and misty at the Planetary Health Precinct today but our sunflowers are brightening up the day! ...

The Blue Mountains Perch may not be as adorable as a cuddly koala, but it is also an endangered animal in need of awareness and support. Populations of the freshwater fish have been hit hard by drought, fire and flooding over the past few years. A NSW fisheries study, while sobering reading, is helping experts develop a plan to save the fish. Read more in Lower Mountains Local News (link in profile): https://lowermtnslocalnews.com/blue-mountains-perch/
@nswdpi_fisheries @fisheriesnsw
#freshwaterperch #endangeredspecies #BlueMountains #rewilding #regeneration #biodiversity #fish #planetaryhealth
...

Our fortnightly Planetary Health newsletter is out with inspiring stories of how our communities are working to create a better future. Watch a video on how we’re collaborating with @michaelmobbs to refine his ‘Cool Seat’, and read stories from the Lower Mountains to Lithgow (you can subscribe via the link on every site and read it now via link in our profile):

Lower Mountains Local News: The Plight of a Mysterious, Rare Blue Mountains Fish

Mid Mountains Local News: Blue Mountains Crayfish Need Our Help

Springwood Area Local News: Snakes Alive: The Man Helping to Change Our Thinking About One of the Blue Mountains’ Most Misunderstood Creatures

Katoomba Area Local News: Kicking Sustainable Goals at Planetary Health Day

Blackheath Area Local News: Incredible Edible Blackheath

Lithgow Local News: The Forged By Fire Festival

https://mailchi.mp/eb95b82bc46d/a-rare-mountains-fish-crayfish-recovery-snakes-incredible-edible-blackheath-and-more?e=a1370f4cfe

#bluemountainsperch #snakes #snakehandler #spinycrayfish #crayfishkill #crayfishrecovery #planetaryhealthday #incredibleedibleblackheath #ediblegardens #communitygardens #communityfarms #forgedbyfire #bushfire #planetaryhealth #solutionsjournalism
...

This week we gave a presentation to a group of emerging leaders in Integral Ecology from around Australia at the Planetary Health Precinct & Parkland.

"Integral ecology is a key concept in chapter four of Laudato Si’, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment. It flows from his understanding that “everything is closely related” and that “today’s problems call for a vision capable of taking into account every aspect of the global crisis.”

Relationships take place at the atomic and molecular level, between plants and animals, and among species in ecological networks and systems. For example, he points out, “We need only recall how ecosystems interact in dispersing carbon dioxide, purifying water, controlling illnesses and epidemics, forming soil, breaking down waste, and in many other ways which we overlook or simply do not know about.”

Nor can the “environment” be considered in isolation. “Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or as a mere setting in which we live,” writes the pope. “We are part of nature.”

As a result, if we want to know “why a given area is polluted,” we must study “the workings of society, its economy, its behavior patterns, and the ways it grasps reality.” And in considering solutions to the environmental crisis, we must “seek comprehensive solutions which consider the interactions within natural systems themselves and with social systems.”

These interrelationships enable Francis to see that “we are not faced with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather one complex crisis which is both social and environmental.” As a result, “Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.” In such an “economic ecology,” the protection of the environment is then seen as “an integral part of the development process and cannot be considered in isolation from it.” “ (from: “The National Catholic Reporter”)

#laudatosi #popefrancis #integralecology #wearenature #everythingisconnected #ecologicalnetworks #visionforthefuture #planetaryhealth
...

It`s a beautiful sunny day in the Planetary Health garden with our artichokes, sunflowers and garlic chives being enjoyed by the bees!🐝 ...